


A New Direction

by lls_mutant



Category: Community (TV), Glee
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Remix, friendship fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-12
Updated: 2013-04-12
Packaged: 2017-12-08 07:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/758516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lls_mutant/pseuds/lls_mutant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artie's future plans don't work out quite how he'd like, leaving him at Greendale Community College.  It's not where he wants to be, but taking Film 201 might help a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Direction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rainbowrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbowrites/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Key To Directing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/576979) by [Rainbowrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbowrites/pseuds/Rainbowrites). 



Greendale Community College. The campus was nice enough and everything, but to say Artie was not thrilled to be here was an understatement. But he didn't have much of a choice, and so he made his way in and signed up.

Calculus 101, Chemistry 101, and Psychology 101. All gen ed credits that would transfer nicely, all courses he needed to get out of the way. And all not at all what he wanted to be doing. He looked down the list. 

"How about Film Studies 201?" he asked the registrar.

She typed it into the computer. "There's one spot left."

"I'll take it."

She raised an eyebrow. "Don't sound so enthusiastic."

"Sorry. It's just that this wasn't where I meant to be."

"Yeah, well if dreams came true I'd be in Tahiti being fed peeled grapes. You want the class or not?"

"I want the class," Artie said. It wasn't Tisch, but the idea of an entire semester not getting any closer to his goals was depressing. "I'll take it."

"Good." She pressed a button and printed out his schedule. "There you go. Have a good semester."

"Thanks," Artie said, taking the schedule and looking at it despondently. "Yeah. I'll try to do that."

***

Greendale was a lot bigger than McKinley. There were very few familiar faces here, and Artie felt very alone. True, there was the plus side that no one threw slushies in your face or locked you in porta-potties, but it still wasn't the same without the rest of the glee club. And apparently the glee club at Greendale was suspended because the last group had been killed in a fiery bus accident. Artie had thought that the person who told him that was joking, but maybe they weren't.

He did feel a flicker of hope when he made his way to his Film class, but it died as soon as he saw the class. Half the class seemed considerably older than him, and a lot of them looked away when he wheeled in. He sighed inwardly, telling himself he was used to it.

One person didn't look away though: a guy who looked like he was a few years older than Artie. He was staring openly, but without any sort of malice. Deciding that anything was better than being ignored for a yet another class, Artie wheeled to sit beside him.

"Cool chair," the guy said. "Kind of John Locke."

"I always preferred the Professor X version."

"Ooh, who wouldn't? Yeah, Professor X is definitely cooler than Jake Sully. I'm Abed, by the way. So are you going to see the newest Wolverine movie, or are you ignoring its existence?"

"Saying I'm ignoring it, but I'll probably go to see it anyway."

"Yeah, I probably will be, too. I guess-"

Abed was cut off by the professor entering, and both of them turned forward to pay attention. But Artie didn't mind. He felt like he was on firmer ground, and that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. 

Maybe.

***

The weeks went by, and things got better. A little. He still frequently ate alone, and his gen ed classes were still just classes. He still spent a lot of time dreaming about what his life would be like Tisch, but maybe he was a little happy to be able to see his parents any time he wanted, too. (And any time he needed to do laundry.) But he settled into a groove, and the high points of his days were definitely his Film 201 class, especially when the professor announced they'd be pairing up and making their own movies. And even more so when Abed turned to him and said, "So what are we doing?"

He didn't even have to think about it. "A musical."

"You want to do a musical?" Abed said. Artie couldn't quite tell if he was disbelieving or interested. Maybe a little of both.

"Yeah. I love musicals."

"The musical flopped terribly with _A Chorus Line_ in 1985."

"But it's had a renaissance since _Moulin Rouge!_ in 2001."

Abed cocked his head. "You didn't cite _Chicago._ "

Artie shrugged. " _Moulin Rouge!_ was first."

"You're right. That was a test. So what musical would you want to do?"

"I was thinking _Sweeny Todd_." 

"Tim Burton just did that. Too soon for a homage- it would just look like a rip off. Besides, it would be too much like filming a high school production, unless we did a documentary approach."

"Documentary: The Musical?" Artie suggested, completely joking.

Abed considered that and nodded sharply. "Documentary: The Musical it is. Come on. Let's get to work."

***

They met that night in a study room that Abed commandeered to discuss it. When Artie came in, Abed was already settled in a chair, typing on a laptop. "We'll need a script."

"Of course." Artie had ideas about that.

"After all, people don't just randomly burst into song," Abed continued.

"They don't?"

Abed turned to him, brows furrowed. "That was a joke, right? Sometimes I can't tell, but I'm almost positive that was a joke."

"Uh, yeah. A joke." Because Artie had to remember that, for most people, it would be. It was only at McKinley that that seemed to happen. "So what kind of script should we write?"

"Well, we decided on the mockumentary format, and you want to do a musical. So it makes sense that it would be a mockumentary about people putting on a musical. The only question is what musical should they be putting on?"

It was a good question, and both of them slipped into thought. Artie had to admit that he didn't really know all that many musicals, and the one he was most familiar with was _West Side Story_. And while the "making of" of that performance would probably lead to some pretty interesting tales, Artie really wasn't sure he wanted them all immortalized on film. He slid past that and thought about his other past projects.

"Too bad there are already _Star Wars_ mockumentaries," he mused, remembering the Christmas special. 

"The Untitled one or Beneath the Dome?" Abed asked without even looking up.

Artie shrugged. "Either. I know it's been done. I just like light sabers."

"Yeah. Me too. We could do that though."

"Do what?"

"Make the musical in the mockumentary about _Star Wars._ "

Artie thought about it. "Wouldn't that be too over the top?"

"Isn't that the point? Like _This is Spinal Tap_ or _Hamlet 2_? Part of the humor of the movie rests on the unsuitability of the musical being performed."

Artie began to smile. "Right. A _Star Wars_ musical." He kind of wished it could be real.

They got to work.

***

Abed had been here a year or two, so he had a group of friends. Artie wasn't thrilled about that, because it seemed like this group couldn't do anything without each other, and he strongly suspected that they would be Abed's choices for roles in the musical. Which would be fine, if he thought they could sing. Artie wondered how to get around that. The answer was provided in the last way he expected, when he and Abed were fine-tuning the script.

"So, I hear you're writing a movie!" The Dean entered the study room with a flourish, wearing Princess Leia's slave bikini. Artie stared, but Abed didn't even blink.

"Yup. Mockumentary about a theater group performing a Star Wars musical." 

"So I heard. I assume that Annie is going to be playing Princess Leia?" The Dean pushed a hip forward and pouted. The fact he thought he would be a better Leia than Abed's friend Annie was obvious.

"Annie can't sing."

Artie perked up. He'd thought this would be an argument.

"Well, then. It sounds like you need a Leia."

"Yup."

Abed didn't seem to realize where this was going. "Actually, we're filming at my old high school over Thanksgiving break," Artie cut in. "It's going to be project for them, too."

"Oh." The Dean looked disappointed. "Well, I suppose I can't get in the way of educating the bright shining stars of the future." He didn't seem so keen anymore, but it didn't seem to bother him, either. Like the project wasn't what he'd thought. "If you change your minds…."

"We'll call you," Abed said.

"Is that okay?" Artie asked Abed after the Dean left. "Filming at my high school, I mean?"

"Sure." Abed shrugged. "It will add an air of authenticity."

"Right." Artie thought about Puck and Finn in the Christmas special. "Yeah. Authenticity. That's the word for it."

***

Kurt and Rachel didn't come home for Thanksgiving, but Santana and Puck did. Brittany was around, and so was Finn. It was easy enough to get all four of them to agree to do the musical, although in Santana's case, some money changed hands.

"You want us to _what_?" Santana asked, holding the script Artie gave her in between two finger tips.

"Come on. It will be fun." Finn was smiling. "It has lightsabers."

"And crappy dialogue." Puck made a face. "Did you guys really _write_ this?" Artie nodded. "It shows." Puck pulled a pen out of his pocket and began scribbling.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Editing. I'm a hot young screenwriter in Hollywood- you could learn a thing or two from me."

Artie closed his eyes and reminded himself they still had the original on the computer. "Right."

Santana turned her attention from the script to Abed. "So, who's your friend? A reject from Bollywood studios?"

"I apologize for her," Artie told Abed, cringing. He turned back to the group. "This is Abed Nadir. We're in the same film class. He's a great director."

"Whatever." Santana flopped back in her chair. "Just tell us what to do so we can get out of this dump and go do something fun."

Some things just never changed. 

***

"Puck, you can't use the word loquaciously there."

"Sure I can!"

"No, you can't. It doesn't fit the character."

"Sure it does. Besides, doesn't it sound good?"

"No, it sounds pretentious and will have half the audience scratching their heads. Put your thesaurus away and stop changing the dialogue." Artie snatched Puck's script from him and read over the proposed changes and began checking them off. "No, no, no, and oh my god NO."

"Come on. Sometimes the actor knows the character better than the writer, and I've been watching Han Solo since I was three."

"Then you'd know that Han Solo isn't going to use the word 'loquacious'!" Artie had the familiar feeling that things were slipping out of control. He was definitely home.

Santana sat down next to Artie. "So this is what you gave up Tisch for?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. Artie winced. "You could have come out to New York and been awesome with me and Kurt and Rachel- but mostly me- and you decided to stay here and work with horseface here?"

"Horseface really isn't up to your usual standards of creativity." Artie regarded Santana warily, but she just shrugged and looked at him expectantly for an answer. He sighed. "You know I didn't 'give up' Tisch. But we can't afford four years there. I'll finish my gen eds at Greendale and then transfer over. Besides, I'm not sure a fourth person would fit into your apartment."

"Oh please. Some weekends there's six of us living there. We could squeeze you in no problem."

And she probably hadn't considered what that would do their bathroom. Artie decided not to point that out, because living with Santana ranked fairly high on his personal nightmares list. Instead, he looked over to see Brittany and Abed deep in conversation. "Do I even want to know what they're talking about?"

"Cats," Santana said succinctly. "Cats in movies."

"I should have known." Artie hesitated, wondering if Santana would rip his head off for even asking, but then plunged. "What's going on with you and Brittany, anyway?"

"Nothing." Mercifully, Santana looked unbothered by the question. "What's going on with you and Horseface?"

"Nothing." He was strangely glad that Santana even asked the question. Not that he wanted there to be anything going on between him and Abed, but just that they seemed close enough to an outside eye… "Yeah. Nothing."

"Well, that made for an exciting conversation," Santana said dryly. "Hey! What's he doing?"

Brittany had left the room, and Abed was following her out, camera still rolling. Not wanting his friend to come under Santana's wrath, Artie hastily wheeled after him and caught his sleeve. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To the bathroom. Brittany's got more to say on the subject of cats."

"Yeah, but in the bathroom?"

"Why not? Girls go into the bathroom to talk all the time. They call it going to the bathroom, but we all know what really goes on."

"Yes, but it's not appropriate to take the camera into the bathroom." Artie glanced nervously over his shoulder at Santana, who was definitely glowering. 

"Oh. It's not? Okay." Abed put the camera down, and Artie let his breath out slowly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just that you don't go against Santana, okay? She'll kill you."

"No she won’t."

"Yes, she will."

"No she won't."

Artie shook his head in frustration. "Yes, she will. Look, I know Santana. You don't."

"Yes I do. She's the archetypal mean girl with the secret heart of gold. She'll talk big and she can be cruel, but she'll melt as long as she knows Brittany is safe."

Artie's mouth sagged open. Not so much because Abed was right, but because, well, Abed was _right_. "But she's not an archetype," was the best he could say. "She's a person."

Abed shrugged. "Sure she's an archetype. Just like Brittany is the plucky comic relief and Finn is the good-hearted idiot who has to learn a lesson and Puck is the bad boy with the secret talent. You're all archetypes."

Artie closed his eyes. "What am I?"

"With glasses that thick and a wheelchair, there's only one thing you can be."

"The nerd," Artie said, desperately wishing that was one that didn't apply.

Abed cocked his head. "The tech guy."

"Oh. Well, that's a better way to put it." Artie was still discomforted by being reduced to a few words.

Abed flashed a smile. "We're all archetypes. Hey, maybe that would be a good theme for the movie."

Artie thought about it. "It would take some editing, but yeah. We could do that." If they pulled it off, it might even be a film worth watching. Which, while it wasn't Tisch, would at least be something.

Artie smiled.

***

The rest of the filming went more smoothly than Artie would have anticipated, although maybe that was because they only had four cast members. Abed seemed impressed with their singing, which meant that Artie had probably guessed right about his friends' musical abilities. Before he knew it, Thanksgiving was over and they were back at Greendale, cutting their rough footage into something useable.

"This was fun," Artie said as they finished up.

"Of course it was fun. It was a movie."

"Good point, but I meant in general. It's not really what I expected when I put off Tisch for two years."

"Yeah, well, nothing at Greendale ever is what's expected," Abed said. 

"That's what makes it Greendale, right?" Artie said dryly.

"No, whoever named it is what makes it Greendale. We could petition and get the name changed to Gotham Community if we tried hard enough."

"You really think we could?"

"No."

"Oh."

"But it was fun. I had fun doing this with you. Next project, want to be partners again?"

"Yeah." Artie smiled. "Yeah, I do."

"Cool," Abed said. "Cool, cool, cool."


End file.
